1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of basketball goals, and particularly to a goal which is collapsible upon application of a predetermined downward force.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It has increasingly become a problem that rigidly mounted basketball goals cannot sustain the repeated impacts prevalent in the game of basketball. Many times during each basketball game the rim portion of the basketball goal will either be grasped by a player during a shot or rebounding, or will be actually impacted by a substantial downward force when the player is "dunking" the basketball. Such repeated forces have resulted in failures of the basketball goals, and in some instances has resulted in substantial or total damage to the backboard to which the goal is mounted. One method to compensate for this problem has been to design heavy duty backboards and goals. Typical of other approaches to the problem are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,441,709 to Schroeder et al., which discloses a movable basket rim which uses a compression system and rail/detent arrangement to maintain the hoop in a horizontal position until a force of at least 230 pounds is applied thereto. At this point the force applied to the hoop is sufficient to overcome the biasing of the detents; U.S. Pat. No. 3,820,784 to Boitano et al., which discloses a combination backboard and basketball goal, the goal being positionable between operative and inoperative positions using hand tools; U.S. Pat. No. 4,483,534 to O'Donnell, this patent disclosing a basketball goal mounting assembly which includes a resilient shock absorbing mass to absorb the shock when the goal hoop is deflected about a fulcrum due to downwardly directed forces, the force being greater than a predetermined amount; U.S. Pat. No. 4,438,923 to Engle et al., this patent utilizing a curved leaf spring and a double-acting shock absorber (piston device) to enable movement of a basketball hoop in a controlled manner; U.S. Pat. No. 4,575,079 to DeFaveri, this patent disclosing a plurality of resiliently biased bracket members to allow a basketball goal to defect and return to a normal horizontal position; U.S. Pat. No. 4,433,839 to Simonneth, this patent disclosing a basketball goal release mechanism which includes a tension resisting mechanism coupled to the rear surface of the basketball goal backboard; U.S. Pat. No. 4,534,556 to Estlund et al., this patent disclosing a basketball goal arrangement utilizing a metallic coil spring to return the goal to a horizontal position after it is deflected therefrom; U.S. Pat. No. 4,583,732 to Allen, this patent disclosing a breakaway basketball goal which utilizes a coil spring to both hold the goal in its operative horizontal position and to return it to that position after being deflected; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,397,464 to Krug which discloses the use of a shear member to release the hoop from the first position to the second position upon application of the predetermined downward force.
Although each of the aforementioned approaches have certain advantages associated with their use, each has particular disadvantages also. For example, the approach disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,397,464 requires the replacement of the shear member and the retrieval of the collar and retainer members after the shear member has been sheared.
What is therefore desired is to provide a collapsible basketball apparatus with an improved release mechanism which is simple, sturdy in construction and inexpensive to manufacture.